After the protest in Civil Lines. ANI Delhi Police has initiated an internal enquiry to find how 15-20 members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), along with its national president and Lok Sabha MP Tejaswi Surya, got past the third barricade of the North district police and reached the main gate of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in Civil Lines, where they broke the boom barrier and kicked and banged the main gate before painting it red.
The Indian Express has learnt that an application for the protest, filed by Hukum Singh, a BJP office bearer, was rejected by the arrangements cell of North district police, yet the group went ahead with it. “Based on the Special Branch inputs, the North district police made security arrangements after deploying 130 personnel, including one company of women personnel, along three layers of barricades. There were seven inspectors and an additional DCP rank officer supervising the protest,” a senior police officer said.
During the protest in Civil Lines. Amit Mehra Police lodged an FIR based on a complaint by sub-inspector Parveen Kumar against unidentified persons at Civil Lines police station. The FIR states that on March 29, BJP youth workers had given an application to DCP (North) for a protest outside the CM’s residence on March 30. “In view of the law and order situation, the leader of the protesters was informed about the rejection of the permission. As a precautionary measure, our staff from Civil Lines police station were stationed from 8 am. The youth workers of BJP started gathering with a tempo near IP college at 10.30 am to gherao the CM’s residence to protest against a comment made by him in the Vidhan Sabha on the film The Kashmir Files, which the protesters found objectionable,” the FIR states.
“Repeated attempts were made to persuade the protesters and their leader to not protest there, but they remained adamant to gherao the CM’s residence. The crowd of protesters was swelling and their leader started sloganeering using the PA (public announcement) system at a high decibel volume. A crowd of about 200 had gathered and to control them, barricading was put in place. Despite repeated explanations, some in the crowd started pushing back the police and broke the barricades and they blocked Alipur road,” the FIR further states.
In the first two layers of barricades, police had deployed around 50 personnel, and 30 in the third barricade. “Around 11.45 am, they barged past the first barricade and reached the second. Around 12.45 pm, the crowd was dispersed after police used water cannons. But in the meantime, around 20 men reached the third barricade and started demanding to go outside the CM’s residence,” an officer said.
The Indian Express accessed video footage recorded by the Delhi Police, which shows 15-20 protesters reach the third barricade and hit it, causing it to fall down. Security personnel stopped them even as some tried to enter from the side of the barricade.
The FIR states, “While attempting to remove them, some protesters moved towards CM’s residence to gherao it. Attempts were made to stop the protesters by barricading at Flag Staff road, but the agitated protesters got into a scuffle with police and broke through the barricades and moved towards CM’s residence. Repeated announcements were made to appeal to the protesters to maintain law and order and about the possibility of people being injured and the permission being rejected, but they did not pay heed to them. In this way, the protesters violated government orders and directions of the police and reached near the gate of the CM’s residence, breaking the barricades, the boom barrier and CCTV cameras. Protesters damaged government property and obstructed the police in carrying out its duties and engaged in a scuffle with police.”
All of this, senior officers say, happened within minutes. “Personnel at the second barricade received a message on the wireless set that around 15-20 members of the BJYM along with Tejaswi Surya had barged past the third barricade. Before police could rush to stop them, they reached the entrance gate of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence. Police asked them to clear the passage, but Surya sat down on the road. The police then removed them and asked them to sit in a bus. Some of them, including Surya, climbed the parked bus of the Delhi Police,” the officer said.
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